Beyond the Pale

The second album from this sweetly histrionic singer, featuring '80s pop, gated drums, and synthesizer stabs punctuated with '80s metal guitar. With Fiona out front and then-lover Beau Hill twiddling knobs, most every cut transcends the cookie cutter even in small ways, as when "Tragedy" mocks itself with electronic basso profundo backing vocals or "Hopelessly Love You" opens with a keyboard stammer and an intro twisting the fair maiden's pitches into helium giggles. Side two offers her first sustained suite, including "Running out of Night," a warning to an aging miscreant to either stay in bed or keep running; "He's on My Side" is the record's most pristine melody over heartfelt, embarrassed goop that's perfect for the newlyweds' first dance, and "Keeper of the Flame" is a jilted lover's vow that, like the mole in the ground, she will root her ex's mountain down. Fiona co-wrote all three of the latter; it's evident she's gearing up for her high-water mark, Heart Like a Gun.